Regular Meeting of California Borough Council, January 12, 2012at 6:30 pm
CALL TO ORDER: President Bittner called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm
ATTENDANCE: Mr. Bittner, Mr. Difilippo, Mr. Encapera, Mr. Glab, Mrs. Gutosky, Mr. Mariscotti, and Mayor Durdines
ABSENT: Mr. Alfano is absent due to illness
MOMENT OF SILENCE
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO AGENDA:
Mr. Mariscotti added Pesticide update class
Mayor Duridnes added purchasing an additional taser
PUBLIC COMMENT
No public comment at this time.
ADOPTION OF MINUTES
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to approve the minutes of the continued meeting of Dec. 1, 2011 duly carried with all members present stating aye
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to approve the minutes of the Regular meeting of Dec. 8, 2011 duly carried with all members present stating aye.
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to approve the minutes of the continued meeting of Dec. 19, 2011 duly carried with all members present stating aye.
TREASURERS REPORT – MS. EVANS
Ms. Evans read the accounts payable and accounts balances for December 31, 2011.
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to approve the Secretary’s report duly carried with all members present stating aye.
PRESIDENTS REPORT – JON BITTNER
REPORT ON EXECUTIVE SESSION
Mr. Bittner stated the executive session on Dec. 19, 2011 was on legal matters and on January 5, 2012 was on personnel matters, supervisors, and administrative employees.
MID MONVALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY BOARD REPRESETATIVE
Motion by Difilippo/Encapera to appoint Lorraine Vitchoff as the Borough’s Representative on the Mid Mon Valley Transit Authority Board duly carried with all members present stating aye.
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION MEMBER
Motion by Mariscotti/Difilippo to appoint Sandra Willett to another six year term on the civil service commission duly carried with all members present stating aye.
NETWORK SERVICE AGREEMENT
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to approve Response Computer’s Network Service Agreement for 2012 in the amount of $2,748.00 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
NEWLY ELECTED OFFICALS SEMINAR
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to approve a cost of $150.00 for any member of council who wants to attend that, and if four go we get complimentary for four more to attend duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
APPOINTMENTS OF BOROUGH EMPLOYEES & ENGINEER & SOLICITOR
CHIEF OF POLICE
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to re-appoint Jeff Gillen as Chief of Police duly carried with all members present stating aye.
STREET COMMISSIONER
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to re-appoint Jeff Tuday as Street Commissioner duly carried with all members present stating aye.
SEWER DEPT. OPERATOR
Motion by Difilippo/Encapera to re-appoint Doug Baker as Sewer Dept. Operator duly carried with all members present stating aye.
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Motion by Gutosky/Mariscotti to re-appoint Shirley Evans as Secretary/Treasurer duly carried with all members present stating aye.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY/TREASURER
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to re-appoint Lori Clancy as Assistant Secretary/Treasurer duly carried with all members present stating aye.
POLICE SECRETARY
Motion by Mariscotti/Difilippo to re-appoint Joyce Shook as the Police Secretary duly carried with all members present stating aye.
BOROUGH SOLICITOR
Motion by Difilippo/Mariscotti to not retain Ernie DeHaas of the firm Radcliffe & DeHaas as the Borough Solicitor duly carried with all members present voting yes.
Motion by Encapera/Difilippo to appoint Melenyzer & Agrafiotis law firm as the Borough Solicitor duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
Motion by Difilippo/Encapera that a letter be sent to Ernest DeHaas requesting that he and any member of his law firm and law firm staff return all borough files including; all notes relating to each individual file, and to specifically identify all active litigation and threatened litigation matters and produce all correspondence and emails with any attachments that were sent to and/or received from any individual or individuals on borough council, borough personnel and any other individuals, companies, and/or agencies duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
BOROUGH ENGINEER
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to retain Fayette Engineering as the Borough’s engineer duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
PROPSED REVISED 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to adopt the revised 2012 Proposed General Fund Budget in the amount of $1,421,468.00 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
Motion by Glab/Difilippo to advertise the adopted revised 2012 General Fund Budget duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
LOCAL SERVICE TAX ORDINANCE #530
Mr. Bittner stated we adopted Ordinance 530 and it was advertised one time and there seems to be some confusion as to whether it needs to be advertised three times so just to cover ourselves he would like a motion to advertise Ordinance 530 consecutively once a week for three weeks.
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to advertise Ordinance 530 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
Mr. Bittner stated that Mr. Tuday handed him a paper from the people we buy our Christmas lights from and they would extend a discounted price of $244.00 through February and Mr. Tuday stated we would need 9 more lights to complete the change over to LED lights.
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to purchase 9 Christmas lights at a cost of $2,196.00 to be paid for out of the gaming revenue fund duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present votingyes.
Motion by Difilippo/Glab to accept the President’s report duly carried with all members present stating aye.
PUBLIC HOUSING – MR. ALFANO
With Mr. Alfano absent due to illness Mr. Bittner covered his report
HOTEL SITE PLAN
Mr. Bittner stated the site plan was reviewed by the Planning Commission by Tuesday evening and received their permission and the only thing he asks is if council approves it it be contingent upon final approval from the Washington County Planning Commission.
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to approve the hotel site plan contingent upon the review of the Washington County Planning Commission duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
Motion by Mariscotti/Difilippo to accept the Public Housing report duly carried with all members present stating aye.
PUBLIC WORKS – MR. MARISCOTTI
STREET DEPT. UPDATE
Mr. Mariscotti read the street dept update report. They have been plowing, laying cold patch, repair and maintaining vehicles & equipment. Materials on hand include 20 ton 2A, 20 tons 2B and 9 tons of cold patch, 250 gals. of diesel fuel, 120 ton of rock salt and 15 ton anti skid in stock.
STREET SWEEPER
Mr. Mariscotti asked Mr. Tuday to once again get some quotes on a street sweeper to present to council.
CABLE FRANCHISE COMMITTEE
Mr. Mariscotti stated we are still operating under our old cable contract which expired quite some time ago and he is looking to get some folks from council and the community to get together one evening each month to lay out what we need and then bring it Armstrong for negotiations on a new contract.
PESTICIDE LICENSE UPDATE
Motion by Mariscotti/Difilippo authorize Jeff Tuday to attend two pesticide update classes at a total cost of $10.00 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
COSTARS PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to participate in the DGS Sodium Chloride contract for the approaching August 2012-July 2013 season and submit a participation agreement by March 15, 2012 duly carried with all members present voting yes.
Mr. Glab asked if we order say 500 ton of salt and we only end up needing 200 tons are we obligated to purchase the final 200 and if we need 700 tons will that extra 200 tons be available. Mr. Mariscotti stated we only have to pay for what we need and the price is set by Costars. Mr. Tuday added they only request an average of what we need unless there is a significant discrepancy in the numbers we submit.
Motion by Difilippo/Glab to accept the public works report duly carried with all members present stating aye.
PUBLIC SAFETY – MR. GLAB & MR. ENCAPERA
ACT 180 TRAINING
Mr. Encapera stated that Act 180 is a mandatory training for officers and we have seven officers who need to attend this training.
Motion by Encapera/Glab to send 7 officers to the Act 180 Training at a cost of $59.40 per officer for a total cost of $415.80 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
Motion to accept the Public Safety report duly carried with all members present stating aye.
FINANCE REPORT – MRS. GUTOSKY
PAYMENT OF BILLS
Motion by Gutosky/Mariscotti to pay the bills as presented duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti accept the Finance Report duly carried with all members present stating aye.
PULIC HEALTH – MR. DIFILIPPO
TRAINING COURSES
Motion by Difilippo/Mariscotti to send Ron Santo to the Basic Wastewater math course on April 4th at a cost of $75.00 and he be paid his wages duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
Motion by Difilippo/Mariscotti to send Ron Santo to the Safety Part I course on April 11th at a cost of $100.00 and he be paid his wages duly carried with all members present voting yes.
Motion by Difilippo/Mariscotti to send Ron Santo the Safety Part II course on April 18th at a cost of $100.00 and he be paid his wages duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
Motion by Glab/Encapera to approve the Public Health Report duly carried with all members present stating aye.
PERSONNEL – MR. GLAB & MR. ENCAPERA
Neither had anything to report at this time
MAYOR’S REPORT – CASEY DURDINES
METRO CONTRACT RENEWAL
Mayor Durdines stated the contract with Metro, our police reporting software, need renewed at a cost of $1,740.00 and it is a one year contract.
Motion by Mariscotti/Difilippo to approve the contract renewal for Metro at a cost of $1,740.00 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
PURCHASE ADDITIONAL TASER
Mayor stated he has a quote from the Officer’s store for the purchase of an additional Taser X26 which would bring our total tasers up to 3. The reason he is requesting this purchase is we have been having more than one or two officers out on a shift and he’d like every officer to have this piece of equipment available to them for their own safety. The total cost for the taser, the holster, and shipping & handling comes to $851.89.
Motion by Glab/Difilippo to purchase a Taser X26 at the quoted price of $851.89 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
ENGINEERS REPORT – MR. BROWER
Mr. Brower thanked council for the re-appointment as Borough Engineers.
MALDEN/GRANVILLE PROJECT
Mr. Brower stated they are waiting on a right-of-way from one home owner so they can finish the extension at the top of the hill there. As soon as we get that right-of-way we can complete the work.
CHANGE ORDER – KEEGAN ELECTRIC
He has a deductive change order needing approved in the amount of $10,000.00 for utility fees that weren’t acquired because we may do the single phase power and this will be from Keegan Electric’s contract.
Motion by Encapera/Glab to approve the change order for a $10,000.00 deduction in the contract amount with Keegan Electric duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
MAIN PUMP STATION PROJECT
Mr. Brower announced that the power has been connected and hopefully they will have that thing running in two weeks and we can demolish the old pump station and he’s sure everyone is looking forward to that.
PAYMENT REQUEST #11 – GREENSBURG ENVIRONMENTAL
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to approve payment request #11 from Greensburg Environmental, application number #10 for $22,849.27 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
PAYMENT REQUEST – SUPERIOR UTILITY EXCAVATING
Motion by Glab/Mariscotti to approve payment to Superior Utility Excavating, their application #5 for $75,695.20 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
CHANGE ORDER – BRONDER TECHNICAL
Mr. Brower stated he has a change order, Contract 2, Bronder Technical Services. We didn’t use utility charges so it is a deduct change order in the amount of $15,000.00
Motion by Mariscotti/Encapera to approve the change order for Bronder Technical in the amount of a $15,000.00 deduction from the contract duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
CHANGE ORDER – SUPERIOR UTILITY EXCAVATING
Mr. Brower stated he needs approval of a change order for Superior Utility Excavating in the amount of $11,719.63. We had to do some additional paving and there were some revisions to the temporary pump station to plant connection and some minor revisions to the valve vaults.
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to approve the Change Order for Superior Utility Excavating in the amount of $11,719.63 duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
MALDEN PUMP STATION GENERATOR
Mr. Brower stated the contractor needs an extension due to the lead time on the generator is longer than they anticipated and he’d like to give them an extra 45 days for that.
Motion by Mariscotti/Glab to extend the completion date by 45 days on the Malden Pump Station Generator contract duly carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes.
HOTEL – TECHNOLOGYPARK
Mr. Brower stated they ran the camera through the lines and they are in great shape and they will be adding about 68 EDU’s and he has a draft letter that the borough can use as a basis to send them a letter to let them know you have the capacity to serve them.
FEASIBILTY STUDIES
Mr. Brower told council that whenever they are ready to sit down and discuss the feasibility studies he has every thing prepared.
OLD BUSINESS
Mr.Mariscotti mentioned that there has been a few people asking him about the house on Wood Street just above Gennaula’s and just below Sheridan’s. Is there anything the zoning officer can do about that home? Mr. Bittner reviewed the zoning report and did not find anything about this particular property. He suggested he contact Lori tomorrow and find out from her.
NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Bittner asked Mike Sears or Norm Hasbrouck to give a quick synopsis of Mr. Filoni’s presentation the other night. Mr. Sears stated he has prepared a little statement regarding that and the downtown revitalization plan. He read a brief statement indicating encouragement of getting the downtown on the right track. Mr. Bittner thanked the planning commission for arranging that.
RECOGNITION OF CITIZENS
Mr. Maddiex stated he attended the presentation and he was also impressed and he stated at their reorganization at the same meeting we re-appointed the current officers; Michael Sears as Chairman, Mrs. Mariscotti as Chairperson Pro Tem, Norm Hasbrouck as Secretary, and Pete Capanna as Treasurer, and he stated that he is Vice Chairman.
JANET MCGINITY
Mrs. McGinity asked what was Ordinance #530. Mr. Bittner responded it is the Local Service Tax. She asked about the television crew and why they weren’t here tonight.
NORM HASBROUCK
Mr. Hasbrouck announced that the University is hosting the Leonardo DeVinci exhibit as part of its two year tour from January 2nd through May the 6th. It is free of charge and is open from 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm seven days a week. It is fully functional machines and the kids can just have a ball.
LORRAINE VITCHOFF
Ms. Vitchoff thanked council for appointing her to the MMVTA Board and she congratulated the new council members.
TRICOUNTY BOROUGH ASSOCIATION MEETING
Mr. Bittner announced that the Tri County Borough Association meeting is next Thursday and Charleroi & Speers Boroughs are hosting it. He stated there is a meal and a business meeting following that.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion by Difilippo/Encapera to adjourn the meeting at 7:15 duly carried with all members present stating aye.
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